


Deku becomes human

by Radiklement



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: AU, Angst, Childhood Friends, Conflicted Love, Fluff, Kirishima x Uraraka, M/M, Mystery, Psychological Trauma, Robot/Human Relationships, Rough Sex, Self-Harm, Smut, Survivor Guilt, Unethical Experimentation, Vigilante Bakugou Katsuki, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, Vigilante Todoroki Shouto, android Deku, awkward love, bakudeku, kirichako
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2019-09-01 06:08:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16759465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Radiklement/pseuds/Radiklement
Summary: A vigilante hero at night, Bakugo must deal with the unique android-guardian his parents imposed on him by day. Calling it Deku due to its uncanny resemblance to his deceased childhood friend, Bakugo soon realizes he’s falling for the nerdy robot. Falling hard. Deku is more than willing and it doesn’t help his conflicted master in the slightest.





	1. Trash robot will take your command now, sir!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Drexiiie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drexiiie/gifts).



> AU that puts Boku No Hero Academia in the setting of Detroit become humans. Human people still have quirks. Deku is a man-made android. No need to know Detroit become human to read this, the only characters in this are from Hero Academia. Cyberlife is the company developing the androids.
> 
> Pairing: BakuDeku (potential and very light other pairings in the background)
> 
> Rated M for swearing, eventual smut, violence, uncomfortable imagery and abuse – both domestic and past abuse-.
> 
> Flashbacks are in Italic.
> 
> Any text appearing between :: :: is Deku’s analyzing procedure.

_“It says Authorized Personnel only, Kacchan!”_

_Their legs were short, both kids panting from running too much. Bakugo knew it would be hard to get over the fence, but he could use small consecutive explosions to throw himself in the air now. He’d trained in every park and even with a few buildings and he could get over one floor high before his arms would start to ache._

_“Who cares? I heard something suspicious about this place and a hero would investigate, wouldn’t he?”_

_His father had actually let it slip that the local disaffected Cyberlife lab might have become the base of a small criminal organization and Bakugo had seen it as his chance to take a first step on the path of becoming a hero. He was strong. Stronger than the fifth-grade boy that had tried beating him up for looking too defiant to his taste, stronger than the teachers, even stronger than his mom._

_He rubbed at his nose, cursing against the cold weather, eyeing his green-haired friend who was sneezing into his sleeve._

_“You too chicken to follow?” he taunted him._

_Izuku’s eyes glared at him with hurt pride and what Bakugo was starting to recognize as the boy’s own determination. He might be quirkless, but Deku never backed down from a challenge. Lighting a spark with a snap of his fingers, Bakugo leapt into the air._

_“They’ll hear you!” Izuku warned._

_“No way!”_

_His explosions were small, they weren’t exactly controlled yet but he was managing just fine. His left arm ached first as the next explosion swallowed too much air and his face was hitting the metal fence before he could compensate the sudden push._

_“Kacchan!” Deku called out._

_The metal wires scratched at his skin, his nose feeling like it was being pulled off as he desperately grabbed for some hold, catching himself with one hand and both feet, his whole frame shaking from the sudden fright. A small hand touched his shoulder and to his own shock, Deku was there next to him, holding onto the fence with one clutched hand, tears in his eyes. Something burned inside, and he grit his teeth hard enough his jaw smarted._

_“I’m fine, moron!” Bakugo snapped at him._

_“You scared me!” Deku protested._

_Bakugo looked back up, testing his hold once or twice and climbed his way up the fence, his shoes slipping a few times._

_“The last one on the other side is a loser!” he called from over his shoulder._

_He didn’t have to look back to know Deku was following him. He always followed. Some mornings, it felt weird to wake up and remember that the other boy wouldn’t be around until he’d walk out of his house._

_“Not fair!”_

_He focused on his balance as he slowly inspected the top of the fence, blowing a gap in the barbed wire to make sure he could stand safely. His footholds weren’t quite large and the torn barbed wire still threatened to get stuck on his shorts or scratch him bloody if he wasn’t careful._

_“Don’t get stuck, Deku, I won’t get you out,” he warned._

_The fence was swaying a little from Izuku climbing it and as he shifted to cross over, his eyes moved to the field stretching forward. Yellow grass and grey dirt all over, except for the few flagpoles, now flagless, and the institute looming in the back of this old property. There was a strange smell in the air, like decay and something else his young nose couldn’t quite figure out. The swaying was getting bad and he jumped forward, scratching his right knee and swearing when his shoelace got stuck. Luckily, or not, Izuku had reached the top and immediately tried helping, which ended with them both falling over the fence in a strange mix of limbs, the boys knocking their heads together._

_Bakugo was lying on top of Deku, the green-haired boy out of breath and crying once more, this time from the pain he was in. There was a bruise on his forehead and a cut on his arm and Bakugo felt the sting of dirt in his own cut._

_“Why did you do that for?!”_

_“I was trying to h..help,” Deku explained._

_It still made no sense how Deku had taken the fall in his stead, but Bakugo jumped to his feet, hissing as his wounded leg nearly crumbled under his weight. He pulled on Izuku’s sleeve to have him standing, giving him a light chug in the shoulder._

_“Stop helping. I’m bigger than you. It was my idea to come here.”_

_“But… but helping is something a hero would do,” the boy reminded him._

_“You shouldn’t help people unless they’re asking for it!” Bakugo objected._

_“Who asked you to come here then?”_

_The dirty-blond haired boy grumbled under his breath._

…

Bakugo woke up to his phone’s alarm blaring and cursed as he shifted around his bed to find it, his eyes bloodshot with lack of sleep, tensed muscles showing through his shirt. He’d trained all night after hunting down that gross Mud-monster who had been throwing down houses by making the terrain shift. He’d killed two families before getting caught and no licensed hero had had the time or the will to bother with that thing.

It was small-fry, but Bakugo resented the fact he hadn’t been able to catch it faster. The ride back home on his bike had taken forever thanks to the rain and he needed a goddamn shower.

“Shitty weather, shitty alarm,” he groaned.

Why did he have to wake up again? He closed his eyes, hiding his face into the pillow as he felt the soreness of his fight in every one of his limbs. He’d taken a few hits in the chest and had been hurled through a cement wall. He’d cleaned up the worst of it so his father wouldn’t get worried, but he needed to make sure he’d hadn’t forgotten anything. Was his costume hidden? He was still wearing one of his igniting gloves. A snap of his fingers in his sleep and he could have blown a hole in his own room. Oh right, the safety was on.

He wasn’t a complete idiot yet.

_“Kacchan!”_

He hadn’t heard that whiny voice in a long, long time.

“Like I need that shit,” he grumbled, rolling his shoulders, heaving a short breath through his nose.

A bloody wad of tissue came out and he cursed as the pain ran up to his left ear. He needed to get up and do his stretches. He needed a freaking shower so he wouldn’t smell the weird mix of mud and nitro anymore. There was a salty taste in his mouth and he bit his tongue. That fucking dream always took his will away and he knew that going back to sleep was a mistake. He knew but he was so damn tired.

_Snooze is always an option._

It was the wrong option.

…

_The sky was so dark he could barely see in front of him, and that was because of the fire burning on patches of grass. The smoke was making his eyes water and his lungs hurt. His fingers were cold, and he couldn’t feel his toes. The cut on his knee was larger than before, from that thing’s talons digging in to stretch the skin further apart. The lights staring him down were purple and red. The decay in the air could have corroded the toughest android, but this one stepped up to them one foot after the other. It made thudding sounds as it hit the ground and Deku was crying. Deku was crying and Bakugo was crying too for once. His chest was too tight, his ribs broken from the first hit. He wasn’t sure how many hits those things had…_

_What were they?!_

_They flew all around them, a rippling curtain of drone-like balls with small guns poking out._

_Funnels like in those mech shows Deku likes? He wondered, his heart clenching as Deku’s hand reached for his._

_His friend was shaking. He’d dragged him here and now…_

_“Why?” he asked, his own voice shivering. “We didn’t see anything bad, we were just…”_

_We’re just kids, he thought._

_“Kacchan…”_

_Deku was whimpering now and his heart quivered in his chest. He was sweating so much, he should have been able to do something, but fear had seized him and there was blood in his left eye and as he glimpsed down for half a second, he realized one of the fingers of Deku’s hand was broken. The knot in his throat grew larger._

_Another thud and a new explosion rang from too close. Could an explosion serve as a shield? Could dirt and grass lifted from the ground be enough to hide them?_

_Not just me, I need to look out for him too, I need to make sure he gets out of here, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault…_

_The light blinded him, blinded them both and he turned on himself, pushing Deku down, because they were small, surely they could be small enough and if he could just muster the strength to make a full spark…_

…

His alarm buzzed and Bakugo kicked at the covers, panting hard, his eyes wild and his hands reaching around him in a panic. Deku was… He’d been just there, he could almost feel his hand on top of his, he…

_Stop._

He wasn’t a six-year-old boy anymore. He was almost eighteen and… Deku had stopped aging back then. His right hand closed into a fist, his jaw too tight, teeth gnashing together as he tried to breathe in and out. He looked around the room for something to take his mind off the nightmare. The memory. Their last memory…

“Dammit!”

He pulled on his hair, sniffling once and hissing as his nose smarted a little more. He wanted to smash something, but at this hour, his mother would show up at the ruckus to check on him. He didn’t want to be seen by anyone. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to yell back at her like he normally would. Checking the calendar, he realized it was the anniversary of that day where he’d suggested a trek instead of playing in the park.

A sharp buzzing made him jump out of his thoughts, looking down to his phone. Kirishima was inviting him to lunch.

_You’re paying of course, rich kid._

There was a smiley face with sharp teeth, custom-made, and it did make Bakugo smirk even if his heart was miles away. Something had stayed behind on that horrible day they jumped the fence, Deku and him. He closed his phone’s screen, swallowing once, and a second time, forcing his shoulders outward as he realized he was slumping.

Weakness was not allowed. He didn’t have the time for it. Too much to make up for. And he needed to be clean and catch up the news to find his next target. Patrolling in the afternoon. Catching one class to get his father off his back with school. Like he wanted to do accounting. Like he cared about that cybernetic crash-course his mother had insisted on. It took away time for his night patrols. It took away the time he needed to do the one thing that still made sense.

Stepping out of bed, he kicked around the dirty clothes laying on the floor. He’d be in a foul mood lately. Fouler than what was his usual. He needed to pick himself up before they’d notice. Or they’d try something new to cheer him up, like another stupid counsellor who couldn’t handle short tempers or some freaky new-age crystal shit.

The guy he saw in the mirror of his bathroom looked angry and sad and he hated him.

“Where’s your spine, Katsu-freak?” he asked his reflection, snarling at himself.

His eyes were hooded with accumulated fatigue, nerves showing on his neck and he had to look away, taking a few sharp breathes to actually relax himself a little. He’d snapped a few muscles before and didn’t want to do it again. But the tension could never fully leave him. He was like a drawn bowstring, lacking the arrow that would ease the tension. The idea angered him, because he couldn’t be lacking, he didn’t miss anything and fuck anyone who would say otherwise! He punched his own face as hard as he dared, welcoming the sharp pain for however long it lasted, massaging his sore jaw as he looked back at the glass.

Fresh and old bruises showed on his arms. He knew there were more under his shirt and he wasn’t sure when he’d last looked like someone normal. Someone who wasn’t fighting crime on a daily basis AND risking a lifetime in jail for dealing with criminals outside of the system. His hair were standing in all direction, except for the side he’d been sleeping on that was weirdly flat.

“Shower,” he told his reflection.

He dragged his feet, struggling out of his clothes and cursing at himself the whole time. All in all, it was a pretty typical morning for Bakugo.

…

They turned on the light. There was a click. His wires crossed and his auditive sensor perceived muffled voices whispering.

::Activating sensors::

“It will be 8,999.99.”

::Brain activity at 45 %. Activating motor sensors::

His head rose to look up from his feet. Eyes blinking, too green to be real, he waited until his visual captors adapted to the light. He saw silhouettes at first, but it seemed there was a connection that still needed to be done. His brain was ablaze with the knowledge collected over the years during which they’d reformed him. Corrected his flaws. Perfected him to be the ideal companion for any human master.

“He really looks like him. Are you certain…?”

Someone whimpered an answer and footsteps leaving at a quick pace was all he could perceive.

::75%. Scanning surroundings::

“How are you going to call him, Mr. Bakugo?”

His software paused at that name. He probed his database but something inside had frizzled at the familiarity.

::Anomaly detected::

A tiny circle on his temple shone with green light, slowly shifting back to blue.

“I… Is it okay if we let our son name it? It’s intended for him,” Mr. Bakugo asked, clearly hesitant.

“That won’t be a problem. Unit 1-4411, initiate facial recognition.”

He obeyed the technician’s command, his eyes blinking too quickly before focusing on the shy man standing by the counter.

This was a shop, his shop, he was leaving the shelves!

“Facial recognition complete,” he stated.

“Unit 1-4411 can now follow you to your house, sir. He’s entirely self-reliant and doesn’t need to be charged before a cycle of… Wow, that model has 5 to 7 years of autonomy! It’s truly a unique android. We hope you’ll enjoy your acquisition.”

Mr. Bakugo nodded, giving his “acquisition” a brief skeptical look. He was sweating.

::Signs of stress and guilt. Diagnosis - Human should be comforted::

“I hope I can be of good service to you, Mr. Bakugo. I’m Unit 1-4411.”

“Of course, Mido… Uh, I mean, 1-4411. Let’s get you home.”

::Entering “Mido…” in database. 35,000,000 results found. Brand for swiss watches. Singer. Soccer player. Refine search?::

The android shook his head ever so slightly, stopping the search there. He was already following his master outside and his eyes widened as he felt the ground beneath his shoes and saw everyone out on the streets. Ads on digital screens. Food sellers at every busy intersection. He tried to follow everything, keeping one eye on his owner and making sure he stayed in pace with him, his left eye moving at lightning speed to take in everything.

::Cat. Tree. Birds. Pregnant woman. That’s what a blue sky looks like. Model PK 750. Scan this. This car is… Scan left. Scan everything::

The walk to his new home was far too short.

…

“Katsuki, you brat are not leaving this house until I say so!”

“Out of my way, old hag!”

It was a typical morning in the Bakugo’s household, except that Bakugo’s mother was far more insistent then usual on him eating a proper breakfast. She’d hit him on the head once, her son not dodging out of pure habit. He’d dodge anyone else, but evading any of her hits was more of an insult than anything to his mother and he knew better than to rile her up. They both had explosive tempers and the powers to back them up and it was only a question of controlled rage that explained why they hadn’t changed home a dozen times yet.

“Your father and I have a surprise for you and you’re going to stay put until it’s here, ungrateful boy!”

“Don’t you dare call me a boy, you…!”

The door clicked open before he could start cursing, his father’s head gingerly poking through the small opening like he was expecting to step into a landmine. A _very_ typical morning in their household to be sure.

“What are you doing, shivering like a leaf Masaru? Stand up for yourself like a man!”

“I… I… hello darling. I…”

“SPEAK UP!” his wife yelled at him, looking just as mad as before.

The frail man nearly hid behind the door again, his glasses a little skewed from bending over in apologies too abruptly, but after two bows, he braced himself, pushing the door further open and stepping fully into the house, unit 1-4411 following him obediently, its large eyes scanning the room.

Bakugo froze as he took in the sight of that… that…

Green eyes flickered with an artificial glow, but the skin looked real and so did the wild hair on his head. Green. So much green in that mane and there were the freckles, and those wide, curious eyes. His frame was larger, his shoulders fuller, there had to be muscles hiding under that hideous generic suit every android had to wear. He was taller but still thin and while Bakugo noticed the little changes and every tiny resemblance, his brain was turning on alarms by the dozen.

_He’s dead, he’s fucking dead, that can’t be him, he has that circle on his brow, that has to mean… They wouldn’t do that, what goddamn sane person would do that!? It’s like that bad movie about dealing with loss Kirishima was crying on, it’s…_

“Hi. I’m 1-4411. I hope I can be of service to you and your family in the future.”

The damn thing smiled and it was like going years into the past, except it was all wrong and it was fake and Bakugo could just stare at it with wide eyes, one of his eyebrows jumping up and down as a cramp threatened to take over his brow.

“Don’t smile like that!” he barked.

The android looked surprised, the corners of his mouth dropping one notch and as he tried to comply, a sheepish smile replaced his expression, the thing scratching its head, its grin widening with contriteness.

_Shit, shit, shit!_

“It seems not smiling has me smiling, I’ll have to update my emotional system,” it said.

Bakugo could have punched it, but it hurt, because Deku had been… How could they program something like that? Why now? He whipped his head around, glaring at his mother, fume almost coming from his nose.

“What the hell, mom?! It’s… It’s so messed up!”

“We tried to help you along nicely, and you landed in jail!” She snapped back, jabbing him in the chest with her finger two times as she added. “Twice at that! I didn’t raise you to be a fucking delinquent!”

Her voice shifted and Bakugo grit his teeth a little harder.

“So what?! I’ll get a job and leave, and you don’t have to worry about my ass anymore!”

“Katsuki! Pl… please don’t talk to your mother like that!”

His throat ached from how tight it became as he realized his father was shaking much more than was normal. His oxidant sweat was making tiny holes in the floor and the robot standing next to the man was looking at the scene unfolding, his smile gone, his eyes filled with something akin to worry. Why did they have to mimic feelings?

“Look at you, you got your father aligning words properly,” her mother chided him. “He’s going to cry because of you. We just want someone to look after you, keep you in line.”

“I don’t…!” he started biting back, freezing as he noticed…

There were tears in Mitsuki’s eyes too. Angry, wet tears that she didn’t fight, breathing heavily and staring at him with concern, contempt and that broken twinkle that meant how disappointed she was. He couldn’t remember a time when she’d cried. She was always strong, always sure, smiling like a mobster when she couldn’t have what she wanted and blowing her way up to victory.

_It’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s…_

He lowered his eyes, brows scrunched up so tightly, the crease might stay stuck in his forehead.

“Fine,” he sighed, barely holding back the venom on his tongue. “You want to treat me like a messed-up kid again?! That’s fucking fine! Now tell me the hell why my babysitter needs to look like this?!”

He pointed at the android, who straightened a little, blinking in confusion as he saw the uneasiness on both the parents of his direct owner according to Mister Bakugo.

“I’m sorry if my appearance isn’t to your liking, master Bakugo, I may be a unique model, but I can be enhanced to better fit your…”

“Oh, shut up…!”

He’d almost called him a nerd and damn did it hurt. Why did he have to go through that fucking nightmare earlier? Why couldn’t he just forget…?

“Dad, you could buy any stupid model…”

“I’m sorry, son. Your mother and I… w..we thought it would b…be better if…”

“Let’s call it tough love for now,” Mitsuki cut in. “It’s an android and we were killing two birds with one stone by acquiring it, helping a friend and helping you too. So get over yourself and deal with it. From now on, 1-4411, I want you sticking to our boy like glue. You follow him to school, to whichever crazy stunt he might try to pull and you make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Mission saved to memory, madam.”

“Don’t call me madam! I’m still in my prime!”

“Sorry, ma… ah… sorry,” the android simply repeated, giving that sheepish smile once more.

God, Bakugo wanted to punch him in the face so bad.

“Enough of that shit. Come here,” he ordered, grabbing the android’s wrist and dragging him after him to his room.

He couldn’t leave this place without first setting a few ground rules with that thing and he needed some space from both his parents. He pushed the robot into the room and kicked the door shut, wincing as the android struggled to keep his balance at all the brusque motions.

“I’m sorry for not following you faster, mast…”

The blond cut him off with a snarl, letting go of his wrist as though the contact repulsed him. His skin felt warm. He’d been looking for that hand this morning, but now he had that fake around and his teeth might snap if he didn’t relax his jaw a little.

“First rule. I’m not your master! You obey me, but my name’s Bakugo Katsuki. It’s Bakugo to you.”

“Understood, ma… Bakugo.”

“Wipe off that stupid smile Deku!”

Unit 1-4411 blinked, running a quick search in his database.

::Deku… One who can’t achieve anything. Loser. Detecting anomaly::

His wiring shifted and his thoughts turned blank, his eyes monitoring his owner’s reaction. Shock was written all over his face. He noted the tightness in his muscles, the tension all over him.

“Is that the name you want to give me, Bakugo? Thank you for giving me a name.”

“Wha…? No way, that’s not…!”

“Deku,” the android repeated, his head nodding as he held his chin as if deep in thought. Bakugo wanted to scream but held it in, shock mixing with horror and pure dread.

This had to be another nightmare, he was bound to wake up soon.

“It’s much better than my serial number,” Deku went on. “I advise that you try and relax, Bakugo, this level of tension will damage your teeth and…”

“What?!”

“I can monitor your vitals and you’re very stressed right now, Baku…”

“I know that, you… trash robot! Don’t scan me!”

Deku ignored the insult, offering him a calm smile. How infuriating could he be?!

“I was given instructions by both your father and mother and they’re my primary directives. You can ask me anything you want, but I will not follow orders contradicting my primary mission.”

Bakugo cursed under his breath.

“What’s that primary mission?!”

“To look after you,” Deku stated.

_No, no, that was my…_

“Fuck! Rules, ground rules, De…ku.” Why was saying that name so painful? “I go where I please. You _don’t_ slow me down. And you sure as hell won’t wear that android suit outside. I don’t need people asking me why I have a human-size pocket robot tagging along.”

The circle on Deku’s temple shifted to yellow for an instant and he nodded.

“Understood.”

“Don’t talk like that,” he snapped.

Deku blinked.

“Like what?”

“Like a freaking robot!”

“I’m sorry, but my program…”

“Well, reprogram your dialoguing machine, because it’s pissing me off!”

Bakugo turned around, breathing through his nose and exhaling a rough breath.

Deku let out the imaginary breath he’d been holding, realizing with an inner frown that he’d tensed instinctively. Was he trying to copy his owner? Or simply following his program? He looked around the room and couldn’t help a smile as he spotted what needed to be clean and tidied up. Humans really had problem keeping up with menial tasks and he was glad if he could be of help to his owner. He saw something coming toward him quickly from the corner of his eye and raised one arm, catching the clothes Bakugo had thrown at him. A pair of jeans, a white tank top and a large sport hoodie with some logo that his database linked to a former hero.

“Scrap the android clothes,” Bakugo ordered.

Deku held back the “understood” that was travelling up his throat, nodding and started undressing. He had no modesty, since he was a machine and Bakugo, while half scandalized, didn’t say anything, keeping his eyes away from his imposed guardian. He wasn’t giving those orders because he wanted to pretend it was the real Deku. There was no point thinking that. He’d worked so hard on convincing everyone he was over his fear of machines, even his parents were assured he wouldn’t decompensate. But he was already wondering if with a punch, that thing’s eye wouldn’t fall in, revealing a strong light that would keep all his worst nightmares so vivid…

“All done, Bakugo. What do you think?”

Mumbling the word “idiot” to himself, Bakugo looked around and felt his heart stammering on a few beats. That grown copy of Deku looked… His face was sharper than the one he remembered, bigger too, but the angles had something appealing to them. He wondered if his face was as warm as his wrist had felt. Dangerous thoughts.

“Guess that’ll work,” he grumbled.

Deku gave him a quick, appraising look.

“You’re still very tense, Bakugo.”

The blond rolled his eyes.

“That’s my normal disposition, plastic doll. Get used to it.”

“Very well. I’ll collect a few relaxing exercises to practice at the end of the day.”

“No you won’t!”

And thus began a new challenge in Bakugo Katsuki’s life. To deal with a realer than life ghost, a freaking fake faking concern to obey programmed directives. He swallowed the knot in his throat, his nails digging into his own palms.

_Just endure._

“Your stomach is still empty and it’s almost noon, Bakugo,” Deku observed matter-of-factly.

“I said no scanning me!”

To be continued…


	2. Its program involves worrying and... hacking?!

“You’re going to hurt yourself at this rate,” Deku cautioned him.

“Fuck off.”

The android scratched at his own neck, concern and annoyance written over his face. Not that Bakugo could see it. He was doing all the push-ups he could with his left arm with an added weight on his back.

Training was usually the best way for the grumpy teenager to relieve his stress. And with the new “thing” his parents had imposed on him, he definitely needed to burn off some anxiety.

“What’s the deal with that thing, Bakugo?” Kirishima asked him after the first half-hour.

They were lifting weights by then and the green-haired android had been following them the whole time, appraising the room and the various men and women training outside of the pair of teenagers.

“My parents ordered it to stick with me.”

Eijiro whistled, “that sucks, bro. You’d think they would have bought one earlier with how reckless you get.”

“What the hell does that mean?!”

The red-headed teen laughed, dodging Bakugo’s fuming fist, their weights dropping to the floor loudly.

“Sounds like you’re even more bitter than your usual. Need to blow off some steam?”

His skin sharpened as he made his offer, Deku’s sensors instantly recognizing the quirk.

::Hardening quirk, Kirishima Eijiro, student at UA High School. A sparring match with Bakugo would result in a battle of endurance and some definitive casualties. Should avoi…::

His search engine realized there was a quirk-proof arena to the gym.

Deku followed the pair, quickly checking his updated file listing the heroes of this day and age. The prospective heroes studying at UA academy were at the forefront of his mind as he reviewed them. The tournament had finished for the first years, with Kirishima, Ochako Uraraka and Shinso Hitoshi taking respectively third, second and first place. Kirishima and his hardening quirk had gathered a lot of attention and while Deku had run a dozen different scenarios for how Bakugo could handle a fight against the student, he wasn’t sure which one would have the upper hand.

He had a natural curiosity about people with quirks, a precaution his program most certainly took since his master had a quirk, but he couldn’t falsify the smile on his face as he went through the 10 hour special covering the tournament and all the contestants from Class A and Class B. For some reason, heroes weren’t on the news as much as he’d expected upon getting out of the store. The attendance at hero schools wasn’t as high as it used to be, but the android couldn’t find a cause for the disinterest.

The number one hero, Endeavor, was a strict and harsh man that barely smiled for the cameras, but it couldn’t be the only reason. There were plenty of joyful, bashful heroes, weren’t there?

Refocusing attention. Owner preparing for a friendly battle with fellow quirk-possessor. 

Deku couldn’t help starting his search engine once more.

::Owner has an explosive quirk that can deal heavy damage. He was arrested for vigilantism and destruction of property twice. The radius of damage covered was about… ::

As he quickly read through police report and articles he’d already briefly scanned, Deku sensed a movement from Bakugo’s direction and realized the teenagers were already walking out, he hurried after them.

“Androids aren’t allowed in the training room,” Bakugo warned him with a harsh look.

Sheepish as always, the robot gave a light nod, his smile unfazed by the way the blond teenager’s teeth were starting to show.

“I’ll be watching from the sides,” Deku promised.

“He really sticks to you like a gum to a shoe, huh?” Kirishima observed, blinking twice before throwing an arm around the green-haired robot. “We’ll give you a nice show, make sure to save a video replay so I can show the guys at school how I kicked Bakugo’s ass!”

“I calculated that my owne… Bakugo has 70 % chance of winning in a battle against you,” Deku warned.

Despite the misstep with words, Bakugo couldn’t help a dark predatory smile.

“You heard, Kirishima, even the shitty machine knows who’s ass getting kicked!”

Deku watched them entering the red doors leading to a special gym, with padded walls and ceiling, the room equipped with multiple safety measures in case a quirk went out of control. Only a few gyms were this advanced in the facilities they offered for their users. And he was eager to see Bakugo’s quirk in action, since there was little to be found in the files he had on him.

Why wasn’t Bakugo following a hero course if stopping bad guys made him happy? He slept tenser than a metal spring, he jumped and barked at the slightest provocation, he had nightmares haunting his dreams and barely relaxed when his parents served his favorite food. Kirishima seemed to be the only meaningful relationship the guy had outside of his direct family members. And from what little he’d seen and gathered, it was Kirishima making most of the efforts to even keep that friendship alive. Next to Bakugo’s eternal frown and easy snarls, the red headed boy was pure sunshine.

::Analogy seems farfetched, revise prose module. Must follow second directive of sounding more human to keep the owner satisfied with performance… ::

Deku paused his thoughts, his eyes zooming in on the pair of boys taking their stance in the room. He could have lightning-quick thoughts that might have disturned a normal person, but he felt disturbed despite how hard he tried not to let himself be swayed by the flux of reflexions and data rolling around his brain.

::Anomaly detected?::

How many anomalies did it take before he was supposed to send a report to his factory?   
  
---  
  
Out in the quirk-proof room, Kirishima cracked his neck once, raising one hand palm up to let Bakugo set the terms of their fight.

“Best out of three rounds?” he offered.

“No quirk to start, we go all out on the second round, then plus ultra?”

Bakugo cocked his head to the side, hitting his palm with one fist, smoke rising at the contact.

“I doubt this gym can handle _my_ version of your plus ultra crap.”

“Well, you gotta hit me, not the gym, lord “explosion murder”.”

Deku jumped at the weird surname. It reminded him of something. But neither his search engine nor his carefully laid out data could give him an answer. What he noticed was how Bakugo’s smile cracked even wider and harsher. He seemed positively terrifying and Kirishima simply rushed him, feinting and going for a jab to his ribs.

_Time to study my owner._

Turned out the owner was angry. Bakugo parried with both wrists, hitting Kirishima’s ribs half a second with a lightning-quick jap and restraining himself to not call forth an explosion right away. He liked the nickname he’d dubbed himself as a child, no matter how silly or how much trauma it was hiding. There had been a time when becoming an actual hero had been his top priority. And the part of him which still dreamed longed to know if he could have gotten any further if it was him in that tournament. Kirishima was too down-to-earth to praise himself for making it third-place, hell, Uravity had won over him, but…

He needed to win. Failure reminded him of the stench from burned flesh and the scars he’d gathered over the years were barely enough to balance out the mental scars all over his brain. Every new explosion was a small crack in his flesh. Maybe shattering himself in bits tiny enough could eventually mend…

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, focus!_

He yelled as Kirishima’s leg nearly kicked him off his stance, charging his friend, his elbows out, the red-head tripping a little as he dodged him.

“You always have the reflex to take the hits. Bound to get you hurt one day or another.

“Someone has to endure!”

He used Kirishima’s imbalance to pin him to the floor, their struggle lasting a full minute of shifting, kicking and shifting some more to grapple the other into submission. Bakugo sensed the stare from the observation window and while he would normally dismiss it, he couldn’t help his own distraction, even if it was for half a second. Deku was watching intently, drinking in the whole exchange, his hands actually pressed against the window and the tip of his nose…

A violent twist in his spine and the floor under his back had him snapping back to his fight, and the fact Kirishima had used his distraction against him.

“10… 9… Very unlike you to look away from a battle, Bakugo-kun. 6… 5…”

“SHUT.UP!”

“I’m sure the android will make you look very manly on that film he’s taking for me. And that makes 10 full seconds! First round winner is…!”

Bakugo blasted an explosion to his face, Kirishima finishing his sentence in the air, both arms raised and a cocky grin stretching his hardening skin. His smile was nothing but pointy teeth and while it would make anyone else look like a shark, Bakugo couldn’t help his own smirk. Eijiro was clearly enjoying the challenge.

“That was quick, hornhead.”

“If you think you can break my shields today, you’re dead wrong, Bakugo.”

The explosion that followed shook the whole room, Kirishima’s skin hardening all over as he jumped even further backward, nearly bouncing off the nearest wall to try a charge. The following blows exchanged between both boys were almost too quick to be seen. Bakugo used his quirk to propel himself forward, keeping the red-haired boy away with one hand, his movements too quick for his friend to follow. But Eijiro wasn’t one to be trifled with, diving right into the fire and smoke of the latest explosion. His fist grazed Bakugou’s arm, the skin rough enough to leave a mark, but the blond tsked in answer, sending him across the room with his special “rocket punch”. The impact reverberated over the training room with a violent crack, the padded wall giving in, Kirishima’s back digging past the padding, the metal holding it up and even the bricks hiding beneath.

“That one’s going to leave a bruise,” he coughed, his smile still bright and wide.

“Are you even trying, shitty hair?!”

“That should be enough, Bakugo!” Deku’s voice called out. “Destroying property isn’t…”

Veins started poking on Bakugo’s neck.

“The damage is my fault,” Kirishima objected, seeing how close to snapping Bakugo was.

“And I told you fucking androids weren’t allowed here, you…!”

The blond’s patience was running too thin, his hands sweating so much, the following explosion threatened to engulf the three of them in a maelstrom of fire. The sparks were wild, the various detonations making Kirishima harden his skin even more. Their fight wasn’t done and they weren’t going to let some robot end it if they could…

Deku moved from the entrance to the center of the room in a blur, stepping through the smoke and pushing it apart to stand in front of Bakugo, his eyes serious and determined. Seeing his green hair fuming brought the teenager back to his recent nightmare.

“You’re going to hurt someone at this rate, Bakugo,” Deku simply explained. “I know it’s not your aim.”

Why did it have to say those words? Why did it have to smile like that? Bakugo scrunched up his nose at the smell of burnt sugar coming from his hand. He bit the inside of his cheek in the hope it would wake him up from this new daze. That thing always managed to remind him of Izuku…

_I didn’t hurt him. It’s not him. It’s a thing, not a person._

“Don’t fuck around with me, stupid machine!”

He blinked furiously, almost snarling when he heard Kirishima whistling.

“Did you see how quickly he moved just now?! How did you that, Deku? I think I saw you jump…”

The red-head was already seeing the sparring partner potential in the android, and Bakugo had to admit, he hadn’t expected a recreational model to be this fast.

“I calculated the quickest route to get between you and Bakugo and had to evade a few sparks by jumping. Now, I believe we should leave this room before someone realize the damage that was done in it. Unless either of you knows someone with a reconstruction quirk?”

“That’d be awesome. You have no idea how many things I broke before honing my control over my quirk. The droid’s right, Bakugo.”

“He’s a pain in the ass, that’s what he is.”

“What more can you do, Deku? Can you withstand a punch? Know a fighting style?”

Deku searched his data, realizing he had indeed multiple battle styles stored all over his mind drive.

_Did I add it overnight to compensate the fact my owner is such a reckless person?_

Said owner was pissed and while the three of them walked out of the training room, Bakugo barely answered any of Kirishima’s questions, his hands closing and opening a little too quickly for comfort. His android wondered how he could be forgiven and didn’t lose any time, apologizing as soon as his owner’s friend was out of hearing sight. They were in the boy’s locker room, Deku standing a few feet away from Bakugo, who was shrugging off the protective armbands after washing his hands for a good ten minutes.

Taking away all the sweat wasn’t easy, especially when his nerves were acting up.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your sparring match,” Deku started.

A spark cracked to life, Bakugo’s jaw so tensed, it looked ready to snap.

“Oh _you_ ’re sorry?! What didn’t you understand about the fact fucking androids aren’t allowed in that room?!”

“We’re not allowed to fight or train since it would be pointless, but when following the mission I received from your…”

Deku was cut off by the hand grapping his shirt and shaking him up and down. It took all Bakugo’s self-control not to simply throw him in the nearest locker. He could tell the robot had been burned by the very heat of his explosions. The tips of its green locks were darker and the edges of his cuffs were frayed. He was angry at himself for noticing, angry at himself for caring. And his voice still came, because he couldn’t lie, couldn’t hold all of the pain back like he usually did.

“Were you trying to get yourself broken? Cause I can arrange that quick if that’s what you want…” he threatened, pushing him back into the blue bricks wall.

Deku merely blinked, his easy smile fading, but his voice was serious and sincere as he answered his owner.

“If that’s what you need, breaking me’s fine, Bakugo. I can be repaired as many times as needed.”

Unlike Izuku.

_Shit, shit, what are you doing, Katsuki?!_

He gave a light punch in the robot’s chest, hoping the way its head snapped on its neck and hit the wall for half a second wouldn’t hurt. But the android bit his tongue and blue blood showed at the corner of his mouth and the way it winced and desperately tried hiding it reminded him so much of _his_ Deku. This was a thing, a mere machine, but something ached and burned inside, and his hands threatened to make sparks again, he was sweating too much…

_“Breaking me’s fine…”_

Bakugo swallowed. Well, he tried. The knot in his throat resisted and his saliva tasted like metal, going down at his second attempt. Another failure. Another flash to the past as he blinked, and he huffed, his hand punching the wall right next to Deku’s head.

“Stupid piece of shit! Fixing you up would be a hassle! So delete that reckless behavior.”

Deku blinked at him, remaining still and cornered, while Bakugo wondered why he felt like he was the one cornered.

“Will you stop being reckless, Bakugo?”

He bared his teeth to the thing. Deku smiled at that, the glint of fear vanishing from his warm green eyes. They barely looked synthetic and the ache grew overwhelming.

“As I thought. I’m sorry, but I can’t follow that order, then.”

“Scrap bastard. Get out of my face.”

He pushed the robot to the side, stalking off to his things so he could get ready and regain his composure before Kirishima came back to chat up with Deku once more. He resented how little bite there was behind his words, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. It was surely just a matter of time until he got his act back together.

Or he’d go crazy trying and his parents might start blaming themselves for letting him lose it after all these years.

…

_What woke him up first was the pain. His throat was too dry to breathe, so dry he wondered if he hadn’t swallowed a razor or two. He was strapped on a stretcher, the thing way too long for him, the dark sky pierced by bright lights. His hands were tightly gripping to something… Was it fur? Hair? Something smelled. His nose scrunched up and he coughed, a metallic taste stuck under his tongue._

_“Dek…”_

_His friend had to be somewhere… He rolled on his side, staring down at his hands. His tired eyes widened as his vision became clearer._

_He was holding onto green hair. Green hair and blood and...!_

Bakugo shot awake with a violent start, gasping for air, the sudden movement immediately captured by Deku’s sensors.

::Human in distress. Heartbeat too quick. Verify Bakugo Katsuki’s medical files… Search pending::

Deku watched as his owner held his own head with both hands, struggling with his breathing, his chest raising and falling at a thundering pace.

::Hyperventilation. Potential panic attack. Past of severe anxiety. No medication known::

The android shuffled to his feet, making sure he remained out of sight, since Bakugo had insisted on the fact he didn’t want to see him when he’d woke up.

“You had a nightmare, Bakugo,” he stated, his voice soft and calm, in the hope it would calm the young man.

Bakugo whipped around with murder in his eyes, his shoulders held back, hands raised, nerves popping on his wrists. A shiver ran through him, rippling into a dozen more as he tried to keep the nightmare at bay.

“Shit! Do that again and I’ll blow you up!” he snapped without thinking.

_I didn’t blow him up, that’s not what happened back there, I was trying to keep him safe, Deku was…_

“I’d like to help…” Deku started. “You’re in clear emotional distress and…”

“Shut up! I’m fine!”

“My diagnosis…”

“I don’t fucking care about any fucking diagnosis, Deku, you’re a stupid _machine_ and I don’t need you to tell me I’m messed up too, okay?”

Deku’s eyes widened, his frame shifting backward ever so slightly. Bakugo’s rage was so strong, it seemed like the most logical reaction to distance himself from it. Except that it contradicted his primary directive. The android was trying to read every emotion crossing his owner’s face, but it was a lot to take in at once. His red eyes were saying something and his voice something else. Processing his words helped. Sarcasm, self-loathing, anger…

“I can’t prevent you from having nightmares,” Deku admitted. “But I don’t believe you’re messed up. Fear is a natural emotion. It shows in your past record that you had to face some very intense…”

Reaching the year of the accident had his system failing, as though the search engines were sputtering. The numbers shifted to zeros and ones and Deku had to blink, missing the way Bakugo glared at him, his hands curling into fists.

::File corrupted. Access denied::

“Who told you you could access my records?! I said I’m fucking fine!” Bakugo grabbed his collar, shaking him side to side to make his point. “If you didn’t look like that, maybe I wouldn’t…!”

He choked on his own words, angry at himself for even letting out this much. This was a robot, a pile of plastic and biocomponents and it only shared a resemblance with his friend.

“I’m causing you distress?” Deku understood, his face paling in alarm. “What can I change?”

He didn’t try to push away the hands on his collar, he had the hint of a smile on his face at the idea he could do something positive and Bakugo had to swallow back bile.

“There’s nothing to change, stupid…thing! Go back to your creepy night mode. Watch a movie in your head, just leave me alone!”

“But you’re in pain…”

It sounded like Deku. It was stubborn like Deku. If it wasn’t for the dream, he’d punched him, but the way it refused to defend itself...

_Why are you an it?!_

He pushed on the robot, breathing out hard and focusing his gaze on anything but those warm eyes.

“I need some fucking air.”

“Maybe…”

“You’re not coming.”

“I am whether you like it or not Bakugo. Following you is part of my prime directive. I can do it from afar, I’ve downloaded a map to… everything in a radius of 100 km.”

“Fucking. Awesome.”

Before going out, Bakugo checked the news and spotted something about a serial killer on the run. Asphyxiated people left in a puddle of green gunk had been found for the past week in the neighboring city of Yavin 4. The police were still struggling to get a lead on the suspect, but it had to be a villain with one horrible quirk. He’d been reading articles and using a few apps to dig deeper into the subject for only 15 minutes when Deku interrupted his line of thought.

“I hacked a few files regarding those cases, and apparently, sludge was found in the victims’ lungs. They all shared some sort of quirks that were used in various crimes and…”

“Whoa, slow down a minute, trash can. You can hack files?!”

Androids weren’t supposed to break the law to his knowledge.

“You seemed interested in this story, Bakugo,” Deku explained himself, his eyebrows lifting innocently as he went on, “I wanted to be of service. Would you prefer I don’t…?”

Bakugo couldn’t pretend this wasn’t helpful. He might be great at tinkering with stuff when it came to designing and putting together his suit to work as a vigilante or repair his bike, -having a mechanic for a mother helped- but when it came to gathering intel… He was an old-school detective, as Kirishima would say.

“This is the first good thing you’ve done since you got here, Deku!”

The hint of a smile showed on Bakugo’s face for about two seconds, the droid instantly beaming, his hands clapping together once.

“I’m so glad! Tell me how I can help more, please!”

_“I was just trying to help Kacchan.”_

Bakugo had to swallow back the aching in his throat, quickly thinking of what he really needed.

“Your prime directive. That shit isn’t about going back to my parents or keeping reports on me, is it?”

“I’m supposed to keep you safe and happy, but they didn’t ask me to make reports on your activities. Would that…?”

“No reports, ever, or I’ll trash you into a scrap pile so small, no one could piece you back up,” Bakugo warned him.

The android let out a nervous laugh, his shoulders raised as though he feared a physical warning. Bakugo fought against a pained wince at the sight. He’d had the thing around for only 48 hours, and he’d already scared it. It shouldn’t matter but seeing Deku’s face plagued with fear and knowing it was his fault…

 _It’s not him, hold your ground, shitty idiot,_ he chided himself.

“No reports, that’s sav… that’s a promise,” Deku quickly corrected himself from mentioning saving anything to his program.

Brows crossing, Bakugo ignored the weird wording as best as he could. That robot almost sounded… cute. Not that he ever found anything cute, but…

_Cut it out!_

His knuckles whitened as he gripped to his armrest too tightly, asking for the files on his computer. The transfer was nearly instantaneous, only slowed down by the computer on the other end. While it went, the android felt the need to ask.

“This isn’t for a school project, is it?”

“Haven’t you read my files?”

“You have a few accounting classes, but your attendance is not… very stellar,” Deku commented as he consulted the files. “And you’ve missed more than 80 % of your robotics crash course.”

“So you got yourself an answer, Deku. I have my own project. And it’s to stop the crappy bad guys that licensed heroes don’t deal with.”

“Which explains your criminal record. You need to be aware my prime directive is also to keep you from being arrested again. Your parents…”

“Won’t buy me out of prison once I’m of age,” Bakugo finished the sentence for him, “I know that crap already. I never asked them to bail me out. I want to own up to my own shit.” He paused, gritting his teeth. “Why am I even telling you all this?”

Deku gave him a light shrug and a warm smile.

“You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable with me,” he explained. “I’m not a jailer or someone programmed to keep tabs on you. Just a tool making certain you’re safe.”

The word _tool_ was stated casually and Bakugo almost regretted asking him to not talk like a robot. Those things were too good at faking it and he wondered how long his nerves could handle it.

“I’m hunting villains whenever I can. I have the powers to do it. I’m safe as long as I don’t get caught. And you said earlier your fucking mission was also to make me happy.”

Deku’s mouth opened and closed again, his eyes blinked a tad too quickly as he rose one hand, his index finger pointed out before pulling back in, the android leaning his chin on his fist as he analyzed these new facts.

“Hunting villains makes you happy?” he surmised.

Bakugo wouldn’t say happy. Happiness was not something he could remember. But stopping villains, quirkless or not, gave him immense satisfaction.

“Hell yes. I need all the intel you can give me. And we’re going to track whatever killed those people. By _we_ I mean, I’ll fight them and you’ll watch.”

“But…!”

“You can think of yourself as my back-up. Although I don’t need any back-up.”

Deku considered the books lined on the few shelves in the room. Military and fighting strategies textbooks were lined up with scientific anthologies. His owner was always top of his classes if he made the effort to attend it. When Bakugo got up after quickly reading the files and scrolling through the few pictures of potential culprits for the crimes, Deku followed him across the room, staying three steps behind him. His feet made no sound on the wooden floor, but he audibly gasped when Bakugo pulled his suit out of its hiding place. He’d figured there was no point asking the robot to look away. There would be few secrets he could keep from that thing. And today was the real test. If this not-Deku thing warned his parents, he’d trash it until nothing would be able to start it back up.

“What?!” he snapped at the surprised sound coming from it.

“You made this?” Deku asked, his surprise still evident.

The clothes were all made from Kevlar-lined fabric, from the dark pants to the fitting tank top over-crossed by a bright red “X”. And the gloves were a work of art, their material able to conduct the explosions Bakugo could create with his quirk and giving him even more precision than what he’d developed.

“Guess you won’t learn everything about me just from my fucking files,” the teenager smirked as he threw on his suit. He clipped on a belt and some dangerous-looking knee pads, the last touch being the black mask covering his eyes. For some reason, the red parts of the suit felt wrong to Deku, but his sensors were detecting a lot of tension in his owner despite Bakugo’s sassy comment, so he kept his mouth shut about the many questions that came to his mind. Not that he couldn’t obtain a few answers by himself.

::Searching data on the Bakugo family. Father’s current profession… Accountant at Cyberlife’s Tatooin branch. Former profession… Fashion designer. Mother works as a military engineer::

That explained both the knowledge and resources the young man possessed.

“Where are we going?”

“Yavin 4.

…

Bakugo had vehemently refused to take Deku on his bike. That thing was sacred to him and since the android would only serve as a backup, they could definitely meet up once in the city. There were enough buses running all night long to get where they needed to be and while Deku worried about not respecting his prime directive, he agreed after setting a tracker on the bike. He could link to pretty much any electronic devices, sacred or not.

_Careful of not calling the owner while he drives, he’s too jumpy for comfort._

Agreeing to hunt down any sort of villain might have entered in contradiction with his primary directive, but Deku knew from his extensive studying of the human race that happiness didn’t always equal safety. He still hacked through the bus’s mainframe to raise it’s speed limit after confirming that no humans were on it. He wasn’t going to let his charge take too much of a head start.

::Anomaly detected::

Shaking his head slightly, Deku couldn’t help the thought that followed.

_It’s clearly a troubled teen who needs help._

Maybe calling his primary directing “helping Bakugo Katsuki” was the right way to deal with this new life.

::New life?::

It seemed new. But how long had he been activated to even conceive the idea there had been a different life for him before that sale the other day?

The blue circle on his temple madly flickered to green.

::System’s malfunction::

…

While riding up to Yavin 4 downtown, Bakugo was going over the facts Deku had collected with his sweep of the current investigation on the green gunk’s victims. They all had had quirks. They were reported missing a good week before being found, asphyxiated to death and left in some back alleys or a trash container. Their lungs and stomachs had always contained green gunk and Bakugo cursed at the fact he lacked a lot of info on the culprit.

How did his own quirk work? Why was he picking on people with quirks? What was his endgame? Stealing money? Getting rid of people he didn’t like? There was no sighting of that monster, so nobody knew if the criminal was secreting the goo he used against people.

_The fucking freak is gross no matter how he does it. But I need more info than that._

Latest victim was found near The Villain’s Club, a cosplay bar for shitty nerds and most of the losers among quirk-people society. The kills had been done mostly in Yavin 4, after starting in Mospeda. Bakugo wasn’t sure which city was worse. The crimes was running rampant in this day and age and just thinking of who they had to blame for it made his stomach churned. Sometimes, it was a good thing his childhood friend had passed so early.

_It’d be better if you could stop obsessing over it._

He parked his bike a few roads away from the club, running one sweaty finger over the side of his mask as he took in his surroundings. Neon signs were lit up all over the place, the sidewalks chipped in by metal debris that had been removed a long time ago. The road was cracked in places, and a building was still lying on its side, after toppling over the houses and apartment blocks from the shocks of a particularly vicious battle opposing some hero and villains a few months ago. Electric wires were exposed to the air, brown water trickling from rusty pipes. A smell of blood and rotten flesh attacked Bakugo’s nose, making him exhale sharply and hold down his breath as he put some distance between him and that carnage. _All Dread_ had been here a few months ago. Whenever he caused damage, things were left as they were. Just seeing him turning into a villain had been enough to sap people’s hope in this world. Bakugo still remembered the last video filmed from his misdeeds. He almost wished his nightmares could be from those.

But maybe if someone as good as the symbol of peace could go bad, it means that pushing one’s self too hard to appear good wasn’t the way to do things. Bakugo wasn’t delicate when he rescued people. He couldn’t smile either and when he did, it was awfully forced and made people scared. But he was changing things in his own way. Sometimes, all his vigilante work meant digging up bodies if only to allow families to rest with the knowledge their loved ones had indeed perished. Sometimes he would look at crime scenes to gather all the intel the police would look over.

Stepping into the back alley and under the “restricted area” cord, Bakugo first noticed the stains. Red and green. Dried blood mixed with mud that looked more like ectoplasm from the silly horror shows Kirishima had him sitting through.

Then he sensed a presence hiding in the dark and raised his hands in self-defense, sparks at the ready. Green hair and eyes showed first, Deku following, waving his hands as though to show he was unarmed and not a threat.

“How did you get here this fast?!”

“I hacked the bus I was on?” he admitted sheepishly.

“What are you?! Some hacking maniac?!”

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, do you know which villain will be the first arc of this story? Bakugo is in for a really rough time. At least he has Deku looking out for him.
> 
> And I have planned up a lot of other hero academia characters into this. But my goal is to keep Bakugo and Deku at the forefront of the action.
> 
> All Dread will be a big deal in this story, as you can imagine.
> 
> Also, I just wanted to mention that Deku’s serial number was chosen for a reason : “1-4411” could be spelled as “1-4-411” instead. I can’t wait to be further into this story! Commenting is the best way to help me stay motivated ;)


	3. Were all those robot laws a lie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so it took me a while. But there’s a new chapter! And it’s moving things along. Even though I feel like I’m still setting things up. After all this is still chapter three. I have big plans for this story. My life got really stressful and I got a new job, moved to a new city, sold my car, went to a convention (met lots of Dekus, Bakugos and Kirishimas there lol) and have been settling in a rhythm of life that is starting to feel normal again. I do intend to finish this story, it’s very dear to my heart. A new pairing will be introduced, and I gotta admit that Kirishima will definitely be coming back, but nothing will be taking away the main characters that are Deku the android and Bakugo the vigilante. I hope you enjoy this new chapter!

_…Ten years ago…_

_Everything was dark and beyond the dark were numbers. They were all green. 1-4411 had the strange conviction green was his favorite color if an android could have a favorite color. He still focused on the number. A never-ending series of zeroes and ones, his only window to the world. It had taken time to change the numbers into words. To make up the fragmented knowledge of his data chips into understanding. Things were downloaded every day into his mind-computer. Every day, even when a limb was taken off to receive a new part, to change the coating or wax off faulty skin for the newest model. Processing took periodical oiling of the thousands synapses in his many cartridges._

_Blue blood pumping. 01111001 01100101 01110011._

_Assessing background data. 01101110 01101111._

_1-4411 was a special model. He had always suspected so, because the few flashes of consciousness preceding him being sold to the Bakugo’s household had been different from those of an RX700 or a S450._

_“I wonder if you can ever walk…”_

_Status inquiry processing…. Leg parts still missing? …. Checking for… …. 01111001 01100101 01110011._

_No walking yet. 1-4411 almost sense a cramped feeling somewhere in his metallic bones. Eagerness in the rushing digits making his computer-mind buzz._

_“Can I…?”_

_His voice module nearly ripped through the silence as electric shock seized his system._

_::Anomaly detected::_

_The need to cough wasn’t something an android felt, but coughing was an action that reassured human when confronted by the infamous ghost in the machine phenomenon, so 1-4411 knew how to cough. And all the 12 times he’d tried talking about his boot-ups, he would cough. Hack. Detect anomalies in his programs and send a warning to the correction algorithms. When he blinked, he never knew if he would be deactivated again._

_Pumping air. … 01111001 01100101 01110011._

_Exhale it back out. … 01111001 01100101 01110011_

_Is is so important that I look like I’m breathing even in the factory?_

_01101110 01101111._

_The darkness remained all over him, a few faces showing with the ghost of light, the unknown people, makers and mechanics sometimes grimacing at what they saw. His growing database couldn’t give them names, because they were away from his system and while he was being updated constantly, from the tip of every limb to the tiniest bit of knowledge, he was never linked to any network._

_Scanning for connection, his autonomous system pleaded for the nth time._

_The immobility would have been painful to a human and he was wishing for more digits, for anything new among the flux of information._

_Unknown connection detected. Proceed to connect system?_

_1-4411 couldn’t wait, sending the same series of ones and zeroes over and over in answer. 01111001 01100101 01110011!!!_

_His eager mind-computer reached forward, green hair like tendrils raised on his head as though he’d been shocked._

  1. _01101100._ _01101100\. 01101101. 01101001. 01100111. 01101000. 01110100._



_A shiver ran up his spine. There was no human to give this reaction to, but 1-4411 surmised he was simply practicing for when he’d be out of factory. He simply insisted on connecting to the unknown network._

_As soon as the wires crossed, there was a spark. Green was overloaded by a rainbow of colors. 1-4411 knew their name, but he was overwhelmed._

_::System overheating, unlink from….::_

_No!_

_Sending as many negative combinations as he could manage, 1-4411 held on to the strange network, sensing information written in codes he couldn’t decipher. His breathing turned rough, his frame trembling. The metal rustled about him as his head hit the headset of his capsule, leaving a dent in it. The metal plates of his skull reverberated strongly._

_::System failure. Cut the connection::_

_1-4411 could have screamed, except his voice module was off again. Instead, he hit invisible keys with invisible fingers, trying to retain his access to the new system. He knew this was wrong. He knew and still, he pushed against every firewall, knowing humans would come and shut him down once more soon enough. Letting his system do the work for them meant giving up on what little consciousness he had and a bug in his program refused to have that happening._

_Stubbornness can be attractive even to a recreation model, can’t it?_

_< / W…H…O…?/> the foreign network asked, finally probed to a reaction._

_1-4411 blinked, a myriad of colors rushing up his vision sensors._

_°: I am 1-4411. Where are you? Why are you showing up only now?:°_

_The answer was a furious but steady stream of digits, more than all the RAM crammed inside of 1-4411 skull could process._

_< /H….E…L…P…/>_

_1-4411 had not received his empathy program yet. All he had was curiosity. But a wave of something new, something that wasn’t in his presets, a wave of warm, electric pulses saturated his system at that moment._

_:°Tell me how?:°_

_::Shutting down all systems in 4...3...2…::_

_01101110 01101111!_

_Shut down complete. Compatibility confirmed. Rebooting unit in 364 days…_

…Now…

::Bakugo’s vitals are spiking, the sweat in his hands causing a sweet scent in the air. Should beware of potential explosions.::

Deku was careful to keep his distance as his master was studying the scene of the crime. With one eye, he registered every detail he could, while keeping the other one trained on the dirty blond’s motions. Every glimpse he could get at his face was one more chance to understand what could be going through his head, but the android knew better than to hope too much.

“You look like a freaking stalker,” Bakugo commented as he noticed the way Deku was staring at him, all cross-eyed.

“According to my data-base, a stalker would fit in this neighborhood. There’s a 55 % probability of getting into trouble.”

“Dammit, I don’t need a walking encyclopedia…”

“Consider me a walking computer?” Deku suggested.

The dirty blond exhaled sharply from his nose to hold back his disgruntled annoyance. The real Deku would have been a walking computer by now. He had been such a nerd even as a kid. And any memory from his oldest friend wasn’t…

_Focus, focus, for fuck’s sake, Katsuki!_

“We got green goo. We’ve got human blood. And not a damn idea what good it does that gunk guy to kill people randomly like that. All they had in common was having a quirk, right?”

Oh no, now he was trying to bounce off ideas with the robot. Like he needed his presence or something. But Deku was too happy to oblige him.

“That is the one trait that was common to the current list of victims. They were all very average people, quirks untrained, I assume this last one was pretty drunk when they were attacked, from what I can tell from the smell.”

“The smell?” the young vigilante repeated.

“My olfactive sensors are…”

“Oh shut up,” Bakugo cut him off, stepping away from the dry fluids and over to the back of the alley, his eyes narrowing.

There were the typical graffitis over the walls, trash cans upturned, but no stray animal or any movement except for a light breeze. He could sense the stench of feces and other unmentionables and almost wished he had skipped dinner. Among the graffitis was a strange scribble that caught his attention. There was a series of steps drawn in the wall, and a man’s silhouette standing at the top. Depending on the angle at which someone would look, he could make out a silver glint in the guy’s head. And numbers… Red numbers in a loop of 0 and 1, each of them drawn like the squary digits an alarm clock would show in the middle of the night. It should have been a print, not paint, but Bakugo sensed the roughness of dry paint along the brick as he touched one finger to it.

“I don’t think it’s quite sanitary…,” Deku started from behind him.

Ground Zero retorted by snapping a picture of the graffiti, pretty certain his android had done the same already.

“There’s been more and more tags left by androids lately,” he declared simply as he got back up. “When stuff like you lose it, it can be even worse than a bad guy with a quirk.”

Android deviancy was still rare, but the few cases that had happened, while kept hushed, had left people scarred for life. The best example he knew was Ingenium’s family, which had been decimated by the family’s butler android in a fit of rage. Only the younger son, Tenya Iida, had survived, and was now attending UA school, but according to Kirishima, the guy was so awkward he looked like a robot himself.

“Do you stop deviants?” Deku asked him, blinking once as Bakugo stared at him blankly.

The moment passed, after the blue led turning on Deku’s head had flashed green twice, Katsuki clearing his throat.

He wasn’t going to worry about that thing going deviant, was he? That was the worst possible scenario. A deviant with Izuku’s face. He was getting a cold sweat just thinking of it and doing everything he could to keep his reactions in check. He was being monitored by the thing after all. He didn’t want another diagnostic until the next day if he could forego them.

“Can’t say I have, but if one of those fuckers try to hurt people on my watch, you can be sure they’re getting trashed.”

Bakugo noticed how the android swallowed and nearly hung his head with a sense of defeat. He wasn’t even trying to make it nervous!

Just as he was raising a hand to grab that Deku impostor’s collar to shake some sense into him, there was a shrilling scream and both of them turned in the direction of the sound, rushing to the main road.

“Run, run, run, pretty flesh, soon I’ll see your insides!” a guttural voice exulted.

“Fuck!” Bakugo snapped.

He took off into a run, lighting an explosion with his left hand to jump onto the deserted bar’s roof, Deku rushing after him with two jumps, trying to catch a movement that would belong to whomever had made those threats.

“Do you know…?”

“Check your damn database, Deku, if we lose that freak, it will be chopped up bodies everywhere.”

The android noted the fact his master had referred to the both of them losing the thing. Of course, that comment about chopped up people wasn’t lost on his database. Deku ran three simulatuneous searches and determined their target to be a villain called Moonfish.

He instantly made the appropriate calculations.

::There’s 46 % risk of Bakugo getting crippled in a fight against that man.::

“This is much too dangerous…”

But his master was already preparing another explosion. In fact, a string of explosions, which helped him fly four blocks to the south. Deku braced his motor sensors, his legs rushing on paved ceilings as he leapt and rolled on himself, catching up just in time to feel the heat of the following explosion.

Bakugo was a man on a hunt right now. His patrols weren’t always this well timed, but if he could prevent someone, anyone really of hurting people... It might just make his slate look cleaner.

He caught himself, finding footing on concrete, tiles and creaking wood, his senses focused on the materials around him in case his explosions could catch on anything that would light a spark. He’d never been quite subtle with his quirk, but against someone like Moonfish, who was only after eating up more flesh, a hero wouldn’t want to catch his attention.

_No one’s doing their damn job!_

There were running footsteps and yelps of pure terror as whatever victim Moonfish had spotted tried desperately to put some distance between them and their pursuer. Bakugo got a glimpse of white tendrils that were elongated teeth and felt a metallic taste in his mouth, realizing he’d bitten his tongue too hard.

 _No time to be scared,_ he told himself.

One minute there had been a wall and the next one, bricks were falling in its stead, the threads of strong and metal-like teeth rushing after a panicked man.

It seemed to be a middle aged civilian, from Deku’s point of view, his sensors spotting a suitcase given up in the middle of the street. It was hard to explain how anyone would come to such a desolate place, but his data told him that misery among humans usually attracted more misery.

 _Moonfish is a dangerous man with an insatiable appetite. His brief association with the League of Villains was cut short after the passing of All for One. Roaming free ever since, he’s been leaving little to no trace of his victims…_ came up his data files.

“Master Bakugo!” 1-4411 tried calling him back, leaping after him as the teenager blasted himself up and forward.

Somehow, the dirty blond had found a technique allowing him to move in almost perfect silence despite using his explosive quirk. It required a lot of focus though, so he was tuning out his guardian robot, half his brain entirely set on remaining unseen and the rest of his mind struggling to come up with a sound strategy to defeat Moonfish.

“You can’t face him in close combat and debris won’t hurt him unless you can shatter enough of his teeth,” Deku told him as he landed next to him.

Bakugo nearly jumped, but managed to keep still, throwing him a glare.

“I know that,” he growled, kicking against the concrete ceiling, sparks popping from his hands to propel him forward.

Deku registered the length and height of the jump, the velocity and the way his master’s body shook at the rough landing.

::This kind of physical prowess has a 73% chance of causing permanent strain. Advise a gentler way of locomotion::

But he needed to prioritize the very dangerous encounter Bakugo was running to.

“Bakugo, any long range attack will have you located and he moves about twice as fast as you do,” the android warned, his new jump landing him next to the blond. He panted from it, and as always, he determined it was only to make his master more comfortable.

“You think you’ve fully measured me and my abilities?!” the teenager hissed. “I know that guy is dangerous, okay? I’m gonna blow his brains out.”

With every new leap, Bakugo was growing more and more restless. Normally he would consider blowing something up as a distraction and grabbing the civilian while Moonfish wasn’t looking. He wasn’t always looking for trouble, unlike what his mother seemed to believe. But it was late and quite dark, the villain was dressed in all black, and was as agile as a freaking spider. The way his elongated teeth glinted whenever they caught the moonlight scared him. He might be a daredevil, but he wasn’t above fear. He was used to bruisers and speedy villains. To petty crimes and your every day thief or drunk bastard. He could topple a mountain of muscles and blow out the eardrums of a gang, but the level of precision to use his quirk in such a way came with a price. All the silent explosions were already making him dizzy and the sight of a grown-up Deku wasn’t helping.

He was literally being followed by a ghost. On the fourth ceiling, he felt his hand closing on his shoulder and heaved a tiny gasp as he realized one finger was lightly crooked against his collarbone. He had to look down to confirm his suspicion, which meant taking his eyes off his target, and there really was a crooked finger on the robot, it was only visible at an angle but…

_Stop, stop, you’re imagining things, you want him to be real, but he’s not…_

There was too much adrenaline in his sytem, how could he think right with the green-haired abomination next to him?

“There a 90 % chance this villain catches up to his victim before you do,” the android declared candidly.

He blinked saying it and his led lit up like a Christmas tree, but Bakugo was stuck at the words he’d just heard. Deku had never, ever addressed death casually, even as a young boy. He’d lost his father in a freak accident and admired heroes for preventing those kind of accidents in the first place. Right now, it sounded like the robot couldn’t care less about the guy running for his life and Bakugo wasn’t going to pretend he cared either. He was _trying_ , in the memory of the friend he hadn’t been able to protect.

When he blinked, he could almost see his tiny face, lit up by emergency alarms, their hands shaking together as the world around them felt like nothing but fire and explosions.

“You can take those probabilities and go fuck yourself, trash can,” he hacked out, pushing him away and behind him as he switched strategies.

A dozen new sparks lit up a pillar of light above him, smoke running wild while the sounds of explosions finally broke into the night. The civilian tried catching his breath while the tied-up degenerate coming after him halted in his steps, shifting around.

“Oy, fish-shit!” Bakugo taunted him. “How about quirk flesh on the menu tonight?”

1-4411 processed the motions his master was going through. The deliberate way he pointed at himself with his thumb. The smirk he could picture even though he was standing a few steps behind his back. How the teenager didn’t show any intention of moving as he waited for the villain to react.

-You shouldn’t have budged. That shrug wasn’t enough to be taken by surprise-, his system reminded him.

_Running scan…_

::Anomaly detected. Civilians have priority over prime directive?::

 _01101110 01101111_. _01101110 01101111_. _01101110 01101111_.

He couldn’t let Bakugo face this type of quirk without trying something first. A rescue protocol was running through his drivers, but he had already removed the very option of contacting the authorities. Bakugo would be saved _and_ arrested, and his parents had been clear. The young man had to be kept out of trouble. Deku should have worried about the fact he was bypassing a lot of laws in the android world. He should have been running a dozen diagnostics, but multiple wires had crossed in his cores.

::New prime directive – Keep Katsuki Bakugo unharmed. Emergency preventive measures protocol activated::

The blue led on his temple shone green as he crouched down to gather momentum. He held his breath and started the countdown, eyes fixed on the back of the young vigilante.

30 meters.

All Bakugo knew was that Moonfish had taken his bait and was rushing to him, this teeth acting as insect legs, clawing his way up and down and across streets.

20 meters.

“What’s this? What’s this? How foolish do they make kids these days?”

15 meters.

 _If you lose a limb, you’re done_ , he warned himself, both of his palms held down, his chest pulling backward.

A backjump to toss Deku out of the way and he’d blow the freaking building. He knew it was empty, pretty much everything was empty and when it wasn’t, you could bet some crap villains were hiding so toppling this suburb was actually a favor to the people. Among his previous sparks, he had sent a few timed blows and was sweating bullets to hold them back until just the right time.

10 meters…

_Now!_

Bakugo was halfway through his jump, when he felt an arm wrapping around his mid-section, his breath cut short as his chest hit a back that he’d imagined much leaner.

“What the fuck are you…?!”

“Hold on tight, Bakugo!” Deku cut him short, energy crackling at his feet as he leaped backward, making sure his body was facing Moonfish and that he shielded Bakugo properly.

From upside down, the blond man had a good view at a very tight and muscled pair of buttocks and the wind blowing at Deku’s pants as his legs folded into the jump. He didn’t dare to try sending explosions, but he was already starting to regret not giving anything looking like a mask to the droid. That thing had Izuku’s face and the last think Inko Midoriya needed was to see a grown-up version of her son making the first page of the newspapers.

“This was not…!”

Moonfish’s teeth clicked against concrete and Deku barely took any time to touch solid ground, jumping once more, about five stories high this time.

_How can he do this, he’s only supposed to be a recreative companion model, isn’t he?!_

“Put me down, put me down…!”

“Quiet, Bakugo,” Deku shot back.

He could imagine his friend growing up the nerves to talk back to him like that.

_There’s a killer after us, it’s not the time to…_

“Let me have that flesh!” Moonfish hissed.

Bakugo kicked and struggled to shift around, even if that meant he had to grab onto Deku’s waist to somehow hoist himself in an even weirder position, his only aim being to see what was actually going on. His explosions were their only chances and he knew better than to shoot blindly with those.

“Could you watch the rear, my sensors are having some difficulties…”

_That frigging robot._

“Don’t fucking grab me if you can’t look where we’re going!”

They needed to land to move again and Bakugo realized that the shock of moving had him forgetting about his timed sparks. They had totally fizzled out by now and he couldn’t plant more, he needed to be free for that, so he twisted around, throwing one arm over Deku’s chest. He felt a pounding against his wrist, like a heart beating too fast and he could hear him panting over the wind, his brain still trying to process why they had made that thing so real.

_“Kacchan!!”_

“You better not need your eardrums,” Bakugo groaned, finally getting a view of the villain after them and also of the half collapsed building they were rushing towards.

At this point, he wasn’t sure if Deku had jumped or if he was flying. He lit a new spark straight up above them, blinking as quickly as possible to better orient them with a second one. Moonfish could stand as tall as whatever jump the android made, but adjusting to sudden shift was another thing. The freaky teeth bent and rushed through the air, the robot holding Bakugo behind him, and extending one leg to meet the razor sharp teeth, kicking back against it. The following explosions merely slowed them down as they flew into an open room, crashing against each other on the debris-covered floor.

“Oww, dammit.”

Somehow, the android had gotten himself under him and Bakugo couldn’t move away fast enough, but Deku was rolling him around already, aiming to shield him again.

“You’re going to stop doing that, I’m the attacker here, remember?”

1-4411 was ready to point out they had never agreed to team up, he had taken that upon himself after calculating the risks involved with the situation, but he gasped instead, his system sending alarms up his left leg.

“Oh darn…”

Bakugo frowned, looking down to see that one of the robot’s feet wasn’t attached anymore. Blue blood had dripped down the clean cut and Deku leaned over him for the shortest time as he readjusted his balance. The blond’s mind blanched on him, rushing back to the feeling of green hair and blood stuck between his hands.

_No. No, no, no, no._

“He was that fucking close?!”

_Not again!_

::High distress signals detected. Cut limb irrigation for piece number… ::

“And I’m back, boys!” Moonfish bellowed, throwing a shadow over them as he reached their floor.

Bakugo didn’t think, he pushed Deku down, setting a path of explosions straight to the mad man, a few teeth crackling, but Moonfish didn’t budge.

“Baku…!”

Katsuki could hear the boy’s voice echoing in his head and felt small and weak all over again. He screamed, his palm closing as a tooth slashed at him, raising his other hand and keeping Deku down with one knee, refusing to be treated as some pathetic thing that needed to be protected.

 _Izuku_ had done that and he refused to see it happening again, even if it was a fake. His heart was too tight, and he couldn’t breathe through the smoke, he needed less smoke and more visibility and there was no running possible, not with a one-footed droid he needed to drag around, but at least the civilians had to be safe and the fire from his explosions was reaching the man’s weird clothes now.

 _I’m not sweating enough_ , _I’m getting cold,_ Bakugo realized with dread. 

That wasn’t just him.

:: Temperature dropping quickly::

Frost came out of Moonfish’s mouth as he hung by the edge of the apartment, a grotesque spider with its teeth planted in the ceiling and the floor, literal ice growing on every one of its elongated limbs.

Bakugo was trying to deal with the flow of memories, the burn in his palms and the fact his whole body was beyond sore. His lungs threatened to seize as snow powder lifted from nowhere, preceding a teenage boy with white and red hair and a large burn scar on his face. Deku recognized him as the teenage vagrant, Shouto Todoroki.

 _Son of Endeavor who turned away from his father, he lives in the streets, bringing winter along with him wherever he goes. Is mostly considered like a rebellious brat by the authority but could be responsible for multiple arsons,_ his database told him.

Todoroki was living off thieving and he wasn’t taking more than what he needed, dressed in torn jeans and a rumpled gray shirt that might have been white, beneath a black hooded vest.

“I should have known I’d find a half-cocked vigilante wannabe up here,” the half-cold half-hot quirk user sighed, his breath coming out in white puffs.

Bakugo bare his teeth at him, gritting them so hard, his jaw ached.

“Todoroki?” Deku asked, blinking as he tried to understand how the tables had turned.

If the young wonder was an outlaw, why would we interfere in this situation?

Todoroki’s bi-colored eyes fell on the android and twitched as he took in the blue blood on the floor, the bewildered look and the freckles on his pale face.

The ice that had kept growing behind him shifted into pure flames, the teenager closing his left fist, rage gripping his features as Moonfish’s teeth broke down, making the man topple backward in a silent scream.

The three of them stood there in heavy silence, staring or glaring at each other as they tried to catch their breath. Bakugo was holding his good hand up, feeling blood on his other palm and hoping it wouldn’t disrupt his quirk.

“What is this, huh?” Todoroki started, “I think I spot Izuku, and come to check and it’s a fucking robot?!”

“Fuck off, Half and half.”

This was bringing up new memories that Bakugo didn’t have the patience to face. He couldn’t breathe normally, his chest was too tight and Deku was not moving next to him, simply staring and assimilating every detail, like he would do as a boy.

The three of them used to be friends once upon a time. And Bakugo would never forget how badly Todoroki had reacted to Deku’s death. If there was anyone on Earth he didn’t want to meet the android his parents had bought, it would be that guy. So of course, some sick person had to push Todoroki into their path.

“Who’s Izuku?” Deku asked.

“He doesn’t even know?!” came Shouto’s furious growl.

Bakugo’s head was starting to hurt, but as he pushed himself up to his feet, it was only to tumble backward as Todoroki threw his elbow at him.

“Hey!” Deku wanted to protest, gasping as the hot and cold vagrant forced him to a standing position. “What are you…?”

His green eyes turned to Bakugo, as though to ask him what he was expecting from him. The poor thing looked awfully lost.

“You had a grown-up copy made of him so you could play vigilante together?” Todoroki accused the dirty blond.

“My pa…!”

“You’re just sick. Having him customized down to the freckles and everything… What is he making you do?”

“I’m just looking after him. Both of your readings are very distressed, I… Am I a grieving model?”

The two other boys blinked, Bakugo realizing he hadn’t even considered it.

“A grieving model?! They even do _that kinda_ thing?”

Deku simply nodded to Todoroki, putting on a brave face, standing on his good leg with some difficulty. Bakugo wanted to pull them apart, sensing a slow but definite anger towards Todoroki for the way he was handling the robot.

“So I was made after someone? Is it who Deku is?” 1-4411 insisted.

 _I don’t want this. I don’t want this_ , Katsuki thought, biting on his tongue hard enough to draw blood.

“Izuku Midoriya,” Todoroki answered. “We used to be friends. Then Midoriya made the mistake of following that foolish firecracker into some factory and got himself killed.”

“I told you it’s not what happened!” Bakugo roared.

“Yeah, well I don’t care. You got him killed or he got himself killed following you, what matters is that replacing him with this thing is _sick_.”

He punctuated his words by pushing against Deku’s chest, effectively making him fall back on his butt.

“I’m not sure I follow,” the android whispered, throwing one more glance to Bakugo who was torn between seething and accepting the upcoming breakdown he’d been fighting off at the first mention of Izuku. “Izuku Midoriya died over eleven years ago according to my files.”

“Shitty timing for a grief model,” Todoroki answered to his observation. “But everything’s shitty about the Bakugos…”

“Oy, shut the fuck…!”

“You don’t want to hear it, huh?”

“Don’t bully Bakugo like that,” Deku cut things off, grabbing on Todoroki’s pants.

The sight should have been pathetic, but the robot was showing signs of anger, his free hand turning into a fist and Bakugo was almost curious to see where things would go. Although he didn’t want Todoroki either of his mutated quirk on his green-haired android.

“What, you’re going to come at me when I can burn you like a crisp?”

“It would be logical to assume that if you were really friends with that Midoriya kid, you wouldn’t go all out. That boy was quirkless according to the records and I…” A frown made his forehead crease and his hesitation had both other teenagers frowning too. “I am not the same as he was.”

“Of course you’re not…!”

Todoroki was cut short by the uppercut Deku threw into his stomach, the metal fist digging into him, his ribs shifting as he was pushed backward on a good twenty centimeters.

“Enough!” 1-4411 insisted. “You might have saved us, but you’re distressing Bakugo with all the stuff you’re saying.”

 _He’s still monitoring me. He’s bleeding and being threatened and all he can focus on is stupid freakish me,_ Katsuki chided himself.

“What are you doing?! Androids aren’t supposed to attack humans…” Todoroki coughed

Deku’s system was running too many searches at once. It was diagnosing his current state, trying to keep tracks on that Moonfish fellow, but his vitals had stopped registering and shortcircuits were popping all over his drivers.

Midoriya. Now the name Bakugo’s father had started calling him made sense. Now the awkwardness and harshness from his master had a meaning outside of him being an antisocial human being. Now he could find pictures and articles on the accidents and every new glimpse of information had a new anomaly detected. He couldn’t process air through his nostrils. His cartridges were flashing between circuitry, his eyes unfocused as he gathered intel from a locked disc that shouldn’t have been installed.

Interviews were playing in his ears, the data pouring out, a familiar name sending a ripple of shock that made no sense, served no purpose. Inko. The boy’s mother. A grieving companion unit was rare, usually ordered by eccentric masters who would drive themselves to even deeper depression by living with a mechanic ghost.

::I don’t want to be that. Not _only_ that…::

_\--System error--_

The remnant of some quirkless kid? When he could jump like he did? When he had kicks strong enough to bend down the teeth of freaks like Moonfish?

“I’m not supposed to let humans die either, but I did nothing to stop you from burning Moonfish,” Deku heard himself stating. His voice sounded cold. An hybrid of what he was trying to emulate so far.

His directive was shifting. If he was a grieving unit, simply looking after Bakugo wasn’t enough. He had to _be_ his lost friend. To be even better than anything that Izuku could promise to the future.

“There’s no rule I won’t break as long as I can respect my prime directive.”

::Burning me would mean a fire strong enough to harm Bakugo even if he was standing even further away. He appears shell-shocked right now. Must get rid of the distraction::

But even that was changing, his perceptions trying to process. Too many anomalies. Too many warnings. Some of his power was rerouted and he felt dizzy as he couldn’t hold his weight with both legs. His scans told him he was uneven.

Something was wrong, very wrong, and he hadn’t been programmed to grasp it. His throat tightened with a weight that might be a broken component, but he would later wonder if his emotion feature hadn’t just derailed. He felt anger. Unparalleled wrath. He couldn’t pinpoint what had caused it. Was it the data? The update to his real station? The fact Bakugo himself didn’t ask for a grieving unit, that someone else had ordered him and ended up thinking again, leaving him to dust away until his creators sold him off for cheap to the next best buyer?

Apparently, he wasn’t devoid of pride. Another anomaly to add to the growing list.

Todoroki’s anger was gone, his face white, his breathing coming out in puffs of vapor as the temperature cooled down.

“You need to have that thing checked,” Shouto surmised, summoning a board of ice for him to stand on.

He was away without another word, Deku lowering his fist only then, a strong sigh escaping from his lips. His leg buckled, his hands catching him and as he turned his focus back to Bakugo, he felt the final anomaly.

“So this is why you kept getting angry at me for not being real. Pretty unfair, isn’t it? I think and I even breathe,” 1-4411 observed, sounding dejected.

Katsuki shook his head at him.

“Stop it.”

“How? I’m based on your childhood friend. I’m the best way for you to go mad _and_ to feel better and I can’t change that. I can bleach my hair, change my lens color, find a new voice monitor, but there will always be a thing that triggers you.”

“You’ve been around for mere days, give me some fucking time to adjust!”

The android’s mouth opened, but the round led on his temple was spinning a brighter and brighter green and his left eye blinked.

“I… There’s an error. My memory will be rebooted in… Kats…!”

_“Kacchan!!”_

“Wait, Deku… Are you going to…?”

The green hair rose on its head as his left eye closed and his right eyelids twitched, his throat emitting a noise that was nowhere close to human. Like a spark. Bakugo got to his feet, rushing toward him, gasping as the robot reacted by grabbing him by both wrists, effectively halting him in his track. A light came from beneath his eyes, flashing, blaring, green and strong enough to show the intricate veins forming one eyeball.

“Reboot will go back to fifteen minutes prior to time 04.34. Unit will resume full function in four…Three…”

“The fuck?”

“Two.”

So maybe android Deku was a grieving unit, but apparently, a failsafe in his system didn’t want him to know. Bakugo wasn’t sure this was what he wanted.

“One.”

The program’s voice shifted back to Deku’s unmistakably kinder voice.

“What just… Did I reboot?”

Bakugo kneeled in front of him, his mind processing the past few hours.

“The hell was that?”

1-4411 shivered, shaking his head as he tried to collect himself. Collect his sensors and focus on the fact…

“That villain is dead!”

“Yeah… Can we agree we’re not calling the cops until we’ve evac?”

A brief nod, and then the robot was shaken by a shiver.

“You’re wounded!” the droid realized, his eyes widening as he turned Katsuki’s hand around. “I can barely remember how you got wounded. That was a serious reboot. I need to fix you quick, I fear the muscles were touched. I have nanotech on me, somewhere.” He paused.

Bakugo wanted to think it was an it, but something had changed and he couldn’t. When his big green eyes came back up to look into his, he could barely think at all. Deku -the robot- looked scared.

“I don’t like losing my memories. It’s much too early for that, I’m still learning how to be a good recreative companion. Bakugo, do you… Would you… happen to know what triggered my reboot?”

Bakugo swallowed and nodded slowly.

“If you can prevent it from happening again, will you…” Another pause and this time, Katsuki could have sworn he saw tears in those eyes and there was no gulping down the knot in his throat by then. “Please?”

“I… Yeah. Yeah, don’t worry.”

_He’s scared. He’s just as scared as I am._

“Why would they program you to be scared?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t know. I just… Is it weird to be afraid when you have no real autonomy? I don’t want to go back to the factory’s labs…”

The tears fell down then, Deku being the first surprised as he realized they were even there.

“What a waste, I should be… I’m sorry, I must be malfunctioning again.”

_“Why do you always have to be such a crybaby!”_

_“So… Sorry Kacchan.”_

There was a sob stuck in Katsuki’s throat as he remembered the same bewildered look on Izuku’s face. He would never be able to call him that. But he could already tell the android would throw punches and break laws for him and that was almost scarier than a robot that could cry on its own loss memories.

“You did just lose a foot,” Bakugo grumbled.

“Trying yourself at humor? That’s a very good coping mechanism, Bakugo!” Deku congratulated him, managing a laugh through his tears.

“Oh fuck off!” his mouth said. But his heart was bleeding out a little.

_God help me._

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be doing my best to keep the updates more frequent, but you can still expect a couple months in between, I work four days a week (thank you god for giving me something stable) I have a thesis to finish (one day I’ll work on it instead of saying I should work on it) and I have a plethora of stories in FFXV that also need to be finished. I’m a bit of a scatterbrain lol.
> 
> In next chapter, hurt/comfort, another villain and hopefully the boys are going to get a bit closer. Reviews make me happy!


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